New Delhi: Rice procurement in the 2026–27 season that began on October 1 has dropped to about 104 lakh tonnes (lt) in the first month, from over 123 lt a year ago, due to poor arrivals, The Hindu BusinessLine reported on Tuesday, citing official data.

Source: The Hindu BusinessLine, Nov 10, 2026

Paddy procurement officially began on October 1, but Haryana and Tamil Nadu were allowed to begin purchases a few weeks earlier, BusinessLine said.

Punjab steady, three states fall sharply

Punjab, the top rice contributor to the Central Pool, purchased 73.52 lt until October 31, a tad higher than 72.98 lt a year ago, while Haryana got 26.25 lt against 38.79 lt, official data cited by BusinessLine show.

Purchases in Tamil Nadu, which started a month earlier from September 1, were at 2.87 lt against 7.51 lt a year ago, and in Uttarakhand over 90,000 tonnes were purchased against 3.07 lt a year ago, BusinessLine reported.

The government has set a target to buy 715.22 lt of paddy from the kharif-grown crop in the 2026–27 marketing season (October–September), BusinessLine reported.

The slower start follows weather disruption earlier in the season: Mint reported on October 30 that government agencies bought 13 million tonnes of paddy between October 1 and 28, against 16.9 million tonnes a year earlier, with officials blaming rain that left grain too moist to harvest and delays in moving bought grain out of mandis. Mint also reported central pool rice stocks of 37.76 million tonnes on October 1, against a buffer norm of 10.25 million tonnes.

Source: Mint via NewsPlainly summary, Oct 30, 2026